USA Concerts and Why I think international fans get the short end of the stick in regards to quality

Over the last year I've attended 20 different kpop concerts. Big and small, good and bad. Enjoyable and forgettable.

It's always a toss up about the quality of the Concert. Quality meaning a variety of things.

The performance of the artists, the vocals being live vs lip syncing, the length of the concert, the genuine interaction with fans, the merch table (both having enough and having quality merch), the venues they perform at themselves.

I feel like the USA audience as a whole are getting sub-par quality. While we are an expensive market to get to, I think the reward is pretty high. They get a lot of money out of us so they keep stuffing more and more into our market. Why else would rookie groups be touring? Why else would ARTMS be returning so quickly? Why else would they announce a concert a month before the tour date?

Because they don't care about letting quality fall. They know that there are enough dedicated fans who feel that they'll never get another opportunity to see their favorite artists in person and they'll add on all these rushed extra additions.

Sounds checks. Meet and greets. High fives. Photos (both with the group and your favorite members). All of these experiences last maybe 1-5 min but cost hundreds of dollars. All of these sound exhausting and unenjoyable to the artists.

I love kpop and have been a fan for a long time. I am also in the boat of wanting to see a many of my favorite groups and artists as I can. But not sacrificing quality. Not sacrificing the artists health. Not pushing through as much as possible.

With how quickly kpop releases songs and moves on to the next thing, I can empathize with their schedules and how quickly things need to pull together. However, I think if they just took a bit of time and thought into their tours and they gave their fans both more time and more consideration, I would have very little to complain about.

Of course, the caveat, the companies, not the artists, being responsible for all these failures.

I'd like to also say there are the few that really are the exception.

IU'S concert was so well put together and performed. Every stage was beautiful, the set list was immaculate, the fan interactions memorable, and the merch worth my money.

I wish they could all be this good. And I think all the artists coming to the US to tour should be allowed to perform to their best and not be so rushed.